Origami Crane

Sketch of origami paper crane - Day 141

sepia ink in Moleskine pocket cahier sketchbook

©2010 Stacy L. Rowan

This sketch is from my sketching project last year, although this is the first I am sharing it. I sketched it on Day 141, by which time I had fallen out of the habit of regularly posting my daily sketches. Now seemed like as good a time as any for posting it.

Every day this week, many times throughout the day, my thoughts have turned to Japan and the tragedy that has occurred and is still occurring there. If I had 1,000 origami cranes my wish would be for the situation with the nuclear reactors to be brought under control, for the rescue and clean up efforts to be able to procede without disruption from aftershocks, and for the people of Japan to be able to find some peace and start recovering from this crisis and the sadness and fear they must be feeling.

Maybe I would need more that 1,000 cranes for those wishes.

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(Edited to add this)
If you don't have 1,000 origami cranes to wish on either, but would still like to help Japan (and you love art) click here. Thank you.

Don't Be a Loser

sketch of empty pretzel bag* - Day 173

graphite on paper

©2010 Stacy L. Rowan

I was driving home from an appointment the other day and I passed a sign on the side of the road. This sign looked similar to a speed limit sign, but instead of showing the speed limit it had a message on it.

The message said "Only Losers Litter".

Really. It did.

Only Losers Litter. Are you kidding me?

This is not a handmade sign. It is a metal sign attached to a metal pole. The pole is sunk into the ground. It looks like something a road crew would put up. Which means someone paid to have the sign made and installed.

Someone paid for the sign and the best deterrent they could come up with to discourage people from littering was name calling. Really? As if people who litter will be stopped by that.

I only wish I had thought to pull over and take a picture.

*The subject matter for this sketch was properly disposed of after the sketch was completed. It was not hung over the top edge of the above mentioned sign. Although that would have been funny. Good thing for them that I'm not a loser.

Seeking Recommendations

banana sketch (Day 140)

sepia ink in Moleskine cahier pocket sketch book

©2010 Stacy L. Rowan

I was lucky enough to receive as a Christmas gift a gift card for the local art supply store. (Okay, so maybe it wasn't all luck since I asked for it, but I was lucky that someone actually followed through on my request!)

I need to replenish some of my standard supplies, but I should also have enough money to pick up some new materials to experiment with. I am looking for recommendations from my fellow artists to help me choose between all the options.

There are two things in particular that I want your opinions on.

1) Paper for Charcoal Drawings -  I currently use Rives BFK paper for my charcoals, but I'd like to try another paper. In particular I'm looking for a paper that allows me to easily achieve subtle value changes. I'd also like a paper which is easy to tone since I typically start my charcoal pieces by laying down a consistent mid-value tone.

What papers do you like working on when you use charcoals or pastels?

2) Watercolor Sketchbook - I have been doing more sketching with watercolors lately. Last year I finished up a small Canson book and now I am about half-way through my Moleskine watercolor book. I actually like the Moleskine paper and will probably buy another of these, but I would also like to try a new watercolor sketchbook.

What is your favorite sketchbook for using watercolors or other liquid mediums?

Now I am pretty sure that every artist has one or two things they can't live without. For instance, I find that I repeatedly turn to the Faber-Castell Pitt pen with sepia ink and a brush tip for sketching. And I love my Winsor & Newton Sceptre Gold round brushes for painting.

If you feel strongly about any of your materials and want to share the love, I'm listening. After all, there is always Christmas next year once this gift card is done.

Thanks for your input! I can't wait to go shopping!
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For the record, I am not in any way being compensated by the companies above or by Dick Blick (the links I provided). This is just the stuff I regularly use.

Sketching Plans

sketch of planter at my mother-in-laws

sepia ink on paper

©2010 Stacy Rowan

This is one of my sketches from last year's daily sketching project.

I really enjoyed having a regular sketching practice. And I love looking back on all the sketches I produced now that the pressure to find a new subject every day is gone. I want to take some of what I liked in that project and incorporate it into my art life this year.

When I decided on last year's sketching project, I envisioned heading out every day and finding something interesting to sketch. Reality quickly set in and I realized that it wasn't feasible for me to go out sketching every day, especially if I wanted to have any time to paint originals.

My commitment to sketch every day, combined with my inability to go out sketching every day, meant I ended up sketching at home. As it got harder to find interesting subjects at home I pushed the sketching off later and later - often sketching right before going to bed. Not the best recipe for inspired sketching. And it explains why I ended the project after six months.

It didn't take me too long to miss the sketching though. So this year I've decided to make it a point to get out of the house for some sketching sessions. Not every day. I know that's not possible. Instead I will target once a month. I am scheduling this Friday morning as my first day out. Wish me luck!

Merry Christmas!

Before going offline for the holiday I wanted to take the opportunity to wish all of you a Merry Christmas! I hope you spend the day surrounded by people you care about (even if you don't celebrate the holiday!). 

Thank you for visiting my blog throughout the year and spending some time with me.

Happy Holidays!
  Stacy

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The image above was created from one of my daily sketches. The original sketch was done in sepia ink. I scanned the sketch, took the image into Photoshop elements and digitally colored it. Foolishly I thought this would be the quickest route to adding color. Turns out, since my Photoshop skills are very lacking, it took me three times longer than if I had used colored pencils instead.

Virtual Open Studio 2010 - Post #5 - The Final Post

When you entered the family room, you probably noticed a basket of note cards.

There is another basket of cards in the living room along with some matching note pads.

There are even a couple of packs of holiday themed cards on the Christmas table.

All of the note cards feature my artwork. Each pack has 8 cards (blank inside) and 8 envelopes. Some packs contain an assortment of cards - two or four different images depending on the pack - and some contain eight identical cards featuring a single image.

This year's big sellers were the new cupcakes assortment

and the new "Life Cycle of a Tulip" pack.

This card was created using three of my daily sketches. I admit that it is one of my favorites.

I also created an assorted floral pack combining two of my most popular floral images with the newer Sunbathed Poppy and Rhododendron

and two packs of thank you notes.

The card with the three coffee mugs is also available without the words "Thank You"

Many of my paintings and drawings have been made into note cards.

 The first name pulled in the door prize drawing will receive a pack of note cards of their choosing..

As I mentioned in the Virtual Open Studio - Post #4, since I have received so many nice comments, I decided to add a second prize. The second name pulled from the hat will receive one of the ornaments created from my daily sketches. These ornaments are featured in VOS - Post #2 and are shown in the Christmas table images above.

So make sure you enter by commenting here! Remember you get an entry for each of the VOS posts that you comment on. You don't have to worry about being creative with your comments, a simple "I was here!" will do.

Before you leave, there are a few more paintings to see on your way down the hallway to the front door, including my favorite grouping.

Peter's Missing Snack is hanging in the hallway on your left.

And this grouping, featuring Clear Favorites, Queen of the Winter Garden, and Winter Treat, is hanging to the right. I love how the blues and greens in each painting tie this grouping together.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for visiting my Virtual Open Studio! I am so glad you stopped by. I thoroughly enjoyed sharing this event with you.

All images ©2010 Stacy L. Rowan

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Comments on all of the Virtual Open Studio posts will be left open until 10pm EST on November 6, 2010. At that time, the comments for each post will be closed. All comments will then be printed and placed in a hat. Winners names will be chosen from the hat by unbiased personnel (namely my kids - they love this kind of thing). Good luck everyone!

Virtual Open Studio 2010 - Post #2

Now we are going to move on from the living room into the dining room.

Placed across from the doorway from the living room, Warmth for the Lonely Traveler is the first paintings you will see. It is a painting of the guest suite in the local, historic Sun Inn.

Tranquil Spring Day is a painting of another local landmark, the Burnside Plantation, and is also hung in this room.

In addition to these two paintings, the dining room is also the showcase for the Christmas table.

Now I have to admit, it pained me to set up a Christmas table seeing as how it isn't even Halloween yet. The Christmas table breaks every rule I've ever made about holiday decorating. But I made these cute little ornaments from some of my daily sketches and they were begging to be displayed together. So I decided to break my own rules in the name of art.

In addition to the new ornaments, the display also contained some holiday note cards, the Christmas Bells painting, and my new covered bridge miniature*.

Other paintings hanging in the dining room include Rainbow Tea and Crisp.

* I just realized that I haven't shared the covered bridge miniature here. I promise to do that once I wrap up the Virtual Open Studio. If you can't wait, you can find it now over on my Facebook Fan Page in the photo album titled "miniatures".

Day 125 and Summer Break

Hello readers! You have probably noticed my decrease in posting since summer started. When summer rolls around the sunshine and warm weather activities lure me away from my computer. I'd rather spend my time swimming at the pool or splashing in a creek, riding bikes or walking on the beach, eating ice cream or watching fireworks. And while I am kicking up my heels, my poor computer is languishing alone.

I tried to tell myself that I would put an end to my summer break this month and return to a regular posting schedule, but I realize now that was just a lie. So I will be taking 3 or 4 more weeks away from the virtual world. Once September rolls around and the kids are back in school, I will offer my apologies to my computer for ditching her and, assuming she forgives me, I will return to my blog with more regularity.

So go out and drink some cold lemonade, read a good summer book and chase lightening bugs in the yard after the sun goes down. Once we've had our fill of summer, let's meet back here and I'll share the rest of my 6-months of daily sketches as well as some new tap pieces and a new floral.

In the meantime, here is my Day 125 sketch to tide you over. It is a sketch of one of my lovely irises that bloomed this spring.

iris sketch

sepia ink in cahier pocket sketch book

copyright 2010 Stacy L. Rowan

Days 123 and 124

Two food related sketches to share with you today and a bit of news.

First a sketch of the basil plant we bought at the farmers' market at the beginning of the season. I love using fresh basil, especially in the summer when I can pair it with fresh, local tomatoes. YUM!

sketch of basil plant

sepia ink in cahier pocket sketch book

copyright 2010 Stacy L. Rowan

Then a sketch of some salty pretzels - the perfect late night snack. Even better when paired with some ice cream.

sketch of pretzels

sepia ink in cahier pocket sketch book

 copyright 2010 Stacy L. Rowan

And now onto the news...
After much deliberation, I decided to end my sketch-a-day project at the six month mark instead of continuing it for a full year. So I completed my last project sketch on June 30th. I guess that makes it a Project 181 instead of a Project 365.

I will continue to share the project sketches until I have posted them all. I appreciate all of the support I've received here and plan to summarize my thoughts on what this project taught me after you have seen all of the sketches.

Days 121 and 122

These scissors were sketched very late at night and I think it shows. By my definition, my day for the sketch-a-day project does not end at midnight. It ends when I go to bed. I believe this was an after midnight entry.

scissors sketch

sepia ink in cahier sketch book

copyright 2010 Stacy L. Rowan

A better sketch here. I was working with the set of gray pens again.

radish sketch

gray ink in cahier sketch book

copyright 2010 Stacy L. Rowan

This is a French breakfast radish - my favorite kind of radish. I buy them at the local farmers' market. This little guy looked a lot fresher when I first bought him, but right after I laid him out for the sketch my husband called me outside to look at some landscaping blocks he had purchased. Many hours and a lot of hard work later I finally got back to my sketch. By that time the leaves had wilted, but I sketched him anyway.

Days 119 and 120

Some more spring buds and blooms from my yard. I am really enjoying sketching flowers. My only disappointment is that I don't have more in my yard to choose from.

azalea sketch

sepia ink in cahier pocket sketch book

copyright 2010 Stacy Rowan

iris bud sketch

sepia ink in cahier pocket sketch book

copyright 2010 Stacy Rowan

Days 117 and 118

We seem to get a lot of wind where I live. This was one of those very windy days. I did my sketch while sitting in the car watching these poor trees getting blown around. Needless to say I was happy I wasn't outside like they were!

sketch of wind blown trees

sepia ink in cahier pocket sketch book

copyright 2010 Stacy L. Rowan

Most days I do a little journaling with my sketch. My notes from Day 118 say I was feeling kind of grumpy. They also say that I was wishing grumpy moods would wash away like dirt, because I really don't like feeling grumpy. I guess that's why I chose to draw a liquid soap dispenser. All I can say is it made sense to me at the time.

soap dispenser sketch

sepia ink in cahier pocket sketch book

copyright 2010 Stacy L. Rowan

Days 115 and 116

My neighbor is in the process of starting up a cake business. Occasionally she needs taste testers to try out new cakes. I think it is important to be a good neighbor, so I've offered to be her taste tester whenever she needs one. What can I say? That's just the kind of person I am.

On this day she brought over a chocolate cake with chocolate icing. It was delicious!!

fork sketch

graphite in cahier pocket sketch book

copyright 2010 Stacy L. Rowan

Mondays are dance days. My daughters take two dance classes Monday evenings - tap and ballet. On this particular Monday they had to leave ballet early to go have lacrosse pictures taken.

My one daughter suggested that I sketch a pair of ballet shoes in the net of a lacrosse stick. That seemed a little complex for one of my daily sketches so I simplified it to a single ballet shoe.

ballet shoe sketch

sepia ink in cahier pocket sketch book

copyright 2010 Stacy L. Rowan

Days 113 and 114

It seems that when I don't have an obvious sketching subject which relates to our days activities I resort to sketching decorative items.

I actually tried an activity related sketch this day. My husband, kids and I went to see the show Tap Kids at our local theater. It is an old theater and very beautiful inside.

I tried sketching the balcony, but the show started before I could finish. It was a fabulous show and we were too busy at intermission talking about our favorite parts for me to finish the sketch. So when we got home I grabbed this bunny and made it my official sketch of the day.

sketch of stuffed rabbit

sepia ink in cahier sketch book

copyright 2010 Stacy L. Rowan

Okay, so I know the next sketch is a pretty pathetic, but it was actually a timely subject that I wanted to capture. The sketch is of Silly Bandz - rubber bands made in the form of different shapes.

Silly Bandz sketch

pencil in cahier pocket sketch book

 copyright 2010 Stacy L. Rowan

For a number of weeks (months?) these rubber bands were all the rage. Kids of all ages wore them on their wrists and traded them like crazy. How I wish this idea had been mine, because I bet someone made a lot of money from this craze - five bucks at a time.

Days 111 and 112

Day 111 brought some unexpected free time when one of the kids' activities was canceled. I put it to good use by creating a more detailed sketch than normal. I was really happy with how this one turned out.

belt buckle sketch

graphite in cahier pocket sketch book

copyright Stacy L. Rowan

The next day I spent some time cleaning off and rearranging my watercolor palette before starting a new painting. When refilling my palette, I decided to sketch some of my paint tubes.

paint tube sketches

sepia pen in cahier pocket sketch book

copyright 2010 Stacy L. Rowan

Days 109 and 110

My thoughtful hubby brought home a gold brush pen that someone was getting rid of at work. I decided to give it a try for my daily sketch. This gold foil wrapped bunny seemed like the perfect sketch subject given the medium.

sketch of foil wrapped bunny

gold brush pen in cahier pocket sketch book

copyright 2010 Stacy Rowan

I wish I had stopped with the outline sketch because the pen wasn't good for hatching or filling in. I switched to colored pencil to finish the sketch off. That didn't go much better.

The next day went a little better. I went to my painting group and saw this sweet cherub in the yard. I did a quick sketch before I headed home at the end of the day.

sketch of stone cherub

sepia ink in cahier pocket sketch book

copyright 2010 Stacy Rowan

Days 107 and 108

Experimenting some more with the gray brush pens with mixed results.

seashell sketches

gray ink in cahier sketch book

copyright 2010 Stacy L. Rowan

Day 108 I decided to sketch this coffee mug to get some ellipse practice. My husband has been a coffee lover since before I met him. I've always liked the smell of it and loved coffe ice cream but never really liked to drink coffee itself.

coffee mug and milk sketch

sepia ink in cahier pocket sketch book

copyright 2010 Stacy L. Rowan

After 16 years I think he has finally converted me. It started with flavored coffees and coffee drinks that tasted more like dessert. Then we went to Hawaii and had some 100% Kona coffee. Yum!!

I'm not a full blown coffee addict yet, but in another 16 years... who knows.

Days 105 and 106

I rarely paint my finger nails because within two days the polish always starts chipping off. It makes the whole process seem like a wasted effort.

But for some reason, nail polish lasts much longer on my toe nails. And I love having pretty toes when I wear my open toed shoes and flip flops. Typically I choose some shade of pink. This year I bought a new bottle of polish. The name... Wishful Pinking - I love it!

sketch of nail polish bottle

sepia ink in cahier pocket sketch book

copyright 2010 Stacy Rowan

Day 106 I sketched a nest because it seemed like an appropriate spring sketching subject. It wasn't a real nest, just a decorative one I put out for the season.

sketch of eggs in nest

sepia ink in cahier pocket sketch book

copyright 2010 Stacy Rowan

Days 103 and 104

A friend of mine gave me these snow drops to plant. I am always anxious for Spring to start so I mentioned that I was looking for an early blooming Spring flower. She remembered my comment and divided her bulbs after they were done blooming for the year.

sketch of snow drop foliage

sepia pen in cahier pocket sketch book

copyright 2010 Stacy L. Rowan

 I will be excitedly looking for them to come up next year. Only problem is I already forget some of the places I planted them. I know I planted some around the mailbox. The rest went in the back, by the patio I think, but I'm not sure of the exact location.

This is the shovel I used to plant the snow drops the day after I got them.

shovel sketch

gray ink in cahier sketch book

copyright Stacy L. Rowan

I experiemented with some new gray brush pens for this sketch. I have a set of six gray pens - 3 warm grays and 3 cool grays. I bought them hoping that the range of grays would allow me to do more shading on my ink sketches. I think I need some more practice with them.

Days 99 and 100

The irony of this sketch is that I was watching Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution while I was sketching.

cupcake sketch

sepia pen in cahier pocket sketch book

copyright 2010 Stacy L. Rowan

For those of you not familiar with Jamie Oliver, he is celebrity chef who is urging people to eat healthy and to make the change from eating processed foods to fresh foods. I whole heartedly agree and have been cutting back on the processed food that passes through my kitchen. We shop at the local farmers' market from May through November and I have even started a series of paintings showcasing my locally grown purchases.

Of course no one is perfect, so I'll admit that this cupcake did come from a package. And yes I did eat it when I was done. I would have preferred a homemade one, but unfortunately no one in this house bakes. Namely because if I bake them I eat them!

My Day 100 sketch was inspired by Laura Frankstone. One of her goals this year is to sketch faster. One of the things she is doing to work toward that goal is sketching traffic around her. Thankfully she only sketches when she is a passenger!

Her sketches are so energetic and fun I decided to give it a try too. (And yes, thankfully I was a passenger at the time!)

sketch of cars and truck

sepia pen in cahier pocket sketch book

copyright 2010 Stacy Rowan